oa Routes and Places of Counter-Memory of Colonialism in Italy. Porta Venezia: A Case of Reappropriation of Space and Memory by the Habesha Community

In the aftermath of the racist murder of George Floyd, racialised people in several Western European cities protested against the presence of monuments and statues celebrating colonialism in the public space. In the wake of the demonstrations, contestations and bottom-up “city decolonisation” initiatives multiplied in Italy. These latter consist of counter-memory pathways and actions of re-signification of the so called “colonial traces” such as statues, monuments and odonymy celebrating colonialism. The aim is to contrast the “Italian colonial removal” and bring out invisibilized histories and subjectivities. In this way, these initiatives are giving rise to material and immaterial places of bottom-up counter memory. At the same time, another interesting aspect is that these contestations are a means of political negotiation of the public space, functional to claim the recognition of the invisibilized part of the population and their rights. In this regard, the objections to the Milan municipality decision to dedicate the public gardens of Porta Venezia and a statue to Indro Montanelli is an emblematic example. In fact, problematising the decision to dedicate this space to Montanelli serves to reclaiming the recognition of the Habesha community and, more broadly, the right of racialised people in Italy to have a voice on colonial memory and on what is designated to represent the history, the identity and values of the population they are part of. Consequently, the actions are also a way to challenge the essentialised conception of Italian identity and reaffirm their presence and belonging to the space on the basis of which they claim the right to Italian citizenship. Thus, these initiatives are a struggle to redefine public space in a way that reflects the many bodies and histories that make it up.